As part of its efforts to ensure effective voter education across the country toward the forthcoming 2023 General Elections, the National Orientation Agency (NOA) has kick started a series of capacity building trainings for its staff to prepare them for the task.
Flagging off the trainings in Abuja with about 100 staff participants, the Director General of NOA, Dr. Garba Abari, represented by the Director, Special Duties and State Operations, Mrs. Mette Edekobi said the Agency, as always, will leverage its existing relationship with the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) to keep Nigerians up to speed with the electoral process in the light of the Electoral Act 2022.
He said that NOA, in line with its mandate, is poised to lead the charge of voter education, sensitization and mobilization in the months ahead of the elections and challenged the staff to be ready at all times to communicate essential electoral information to Nigerians using various conventional and unconventional channels. He disclosed that the NOA will also be at the fore front of combating fake news and hate speech which are bound to be on the rise during the electioneering period.
Abari said further that the Agency was open to working with civil society, development partners and security agencies in the quest to curb vote buying and selling, reduce voter apathy, minimize voided votes, discourage electoral violence and ensure free, fair and credible elections, come 2023.
The NOA Director General assured that the trainings would be cascaded to the State Directorates and Local Government Offices of the Agency to ensure uniformity of preparedness. He was optimistic that with massive deployment of NOA staff on voter sensitization duties across the country, Nigerians would have a better informed electoral outing that would in turn deepen the nation’s democracy.
Topics covered by the training include Communication and Orientation during Political Seasons: The Rise of Social Media in Political Consciousness; Political Parties and Their Presidential Candidates: How NOA Voter Education Can Help Citizens Make Informed Decisions; Vote Buying and Selling: The Ekiti Election Report and Lessons for Osun Elections; Pitching for the Media in Voter Sensitization and; BVAS, PVC and other Notable Changes in the Voting Process.
Paul Odenyi
Assistant Director, Press